SUPER REGION III
This is an incredibly tough region with a lot of good wrestlers. There will be ranked wrestlers that end up not going to the NCAA DII tournament. There will be former qualifiers not going & there is even a chance that a few returning DII All Americans will not qualify. To place top 3 here at most weights will be one Hell of an accomplishment.
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| 125 lbs |
Well first things first, let's get this out of the way. I'm making a hypothesis that Lake Erie will go with Jacob Johnson, but there is a chance that they very well could go with Jordan Rodriguez. I think both stand a legitimate chance at placing top 3. For right now though, I'm going to go with Johnson. With that out of the way....
Cole Laya of West Liberty is the obvious favorite here. A 2021 NCAA DII champ that finished 3rd in 2019. The guy darn near knocked off Malik Heinselman of Ohio State in a 5-4 effort. He majored Tiffin's Brandon Mendoza 12-1 & he's shut out Christian Wellman of Ashland 6-0 & 8-0.
Now who will be Laya's finals opponent? One might very well think Wellman, as he finished 4th at the NCAA DII tournament last season, but he might have a difficult time just making it back this season. While he owns a 5-4 decision over Mendoza, he has also lost to Mendoza 10-2. While he's defeated Johnson by scores of 7-5 & 5-4, he's also lost 8-6. Then on top of it all, he's 1-3 against Findlay's Zach Collins. A 2-1 tiebreaker victory Vs 4-2, 5-3 & 5-4 losses. Mendoza on the other hand is undefeated against Collins in four matches. Along with pinning him at 4:06, he's also defeated him 5-0, 5-2 & 4-2 tiebreaker. Collins is 3-0 against Johnson with 2-1, 3-2 & 4-3 tiebreaker victories.
It almost seems unfair that with all this talent, only three of these wrestlers will go on to the national championship.
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| 133 lbs |
Notre Dame's Bray Hunter (as of the time this was written) hasn't wrestled a match all season, yet it should be noted that he finished 3rd at the 2019 NCAA DII tournament should he be participating at the Super Region III. If he's not there, look for Lake Erie's Corey Gamet to face either Davenport's Manuel Leija or Tiffin's Josh Lyons in the finals, with the other taking 3rd. Gamet owns a 9-0 major decision over Leija.
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| 141 lbs |
You'd think being a two time NCAA DII Champion & a three time DII All American, West Liberty's Tyler Warner would come in here and win the Super Region III title no problem. Yet, if 141 lbs within the Super Region III proves anything, it's that it is never a given, you ALWAYS have to earn it. So far this season Warner has already dropped a 3-0 decision to true freshman Ethan Hardy of Glennville State & he barely escaped Ashland's Luke Wymer in a 2-1 decision. Wymer, a NCAA qualifier in his own right is 1-1 with Findlay 2021 8th place DII All American Branson Proudlock. Wymer won a 6-1 decision and Proudlock won a 6-5 tiebreaker. With Hardy looking to possibly steal a spot, one of these four talents will be staying home this season.
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| 149 lbs |
I'm going to say that despite ranking (at the time this was written) Carson Speelman of Ashland takes the #1 seed here. The 2021 NCAA DII 5th place finisher has a head to head 3-2 victory over Davis & Elkins' Craig Cook. Cook himself a two time DII qualifier could very well have a tough semi-final against Jacob Simpson of West Liberty who he is 1-1 with. Winning a 5-0 decision, he's dropped a 6-5 tiebreaker. That is of course if Simpson can get past Notre Dame's Matt Kaufmann who already owns a 1:46 fall & a 4-2 decision over him. Also fighting for a spot in the top 3 will be Glenville State's Gavin Quiocho (sorry about the V in the pic) who wrestled close matches with both Cook (7-5) & Simpson (2-0).
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| 157 lbs |
2021 NCAA DII champion James Wimer of Findlay will lead the way as war for the second and third place qualification spots will be between Noah Tarr of Davis & Elkins, Alec Cook of West Liberty and Sandro Ramirez of Notre Dame. Tarr favors over Ramirez as far as rankings are concerned (at the time this was written) but it is Ramirez that owns a head to head victory with a 5-3 decision. Ramirez also owns a 6-5 decision over Cook.
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| 165 lbs Parity among five talented wrestlers suggest that a number of different scenarios could go down for 165 lbs at Super Region III. Lake Erie's James Penfold owns a 3:39 fall over Davis & Elkins' Wiley Houser as well as a 2:54 fall over Drew Weichers of Ashland. He also owns a 9-7 decision over Morgan Chase of West Liberty, but he also has a 7-3 loss to Bryan LaVearn of Tiffin. LaVearn a three time NCAA DII qualifier already, also owns a fall over Chase at 3:51, as well as a 5-2 decision over him. He has a 5-4 loss to Weichers. As you can tell, seeding here may be an issue. It may have gotten old hearing me say this by now, but again, only three spots for the NCAA DII tournament and five worthy talents who want them. It'll be a war. |
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| 174 lbs |
I would wager to say that we're probably looking at a final of Ashland's Daniel Beemer, who was 3rd at last year's NCAA DII's Vs Ty McGeary of West Liberty. It should be a very good match, as last the two met, Beemer won a 3-2 decision. McGeary owns both a 10-3 & 4-1 decision over Hunter DeLong of Glenville State & an 8-6 decision over Hunter Reed of Findlay. The consolation final here, which I predict to be DeLong & Reed, should be a good match as well. DeLong is in his first full season at Glenville State after four seasons at West Virginia, whereas Reed is having his best season yet up at 174, after struggling the past few at 165.
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| 184 lbs |
Pretty sure that 1st & 2nd places are spoken for with 3rd place being up for grabs. A DII national champion in 2019, that finished as runner-up last season, West Liberty's Craig Connor is the clear favorite to win a Super Region III title. He's thus far defeated likely finals opponent Aidan Pasiuk of Ashland twice by dominating scores of 8-1 and 9-1. He also owns a 4-1 victory over Logan Hall of Notre Dame & a 3:50 fall over Cole Houser of Glenville State. Pasiuk a two time DII All American in his own right (19' 5th & 21' 7th) owns a 5-2 decision over Hall. What will be really interesting here is the likely consolation final between Hall & Houser. They've thus far split having both won 3-2 matches. The rubber match has an NCAA DII qualification on the line.
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| 197 lbs |
Man, this is one tough weight class! Son of a gun. Four ranked wrestlers, a returning NCAA DII champion, two returning All Americans and three returning qualifiers. Plus another very tough wrestler. The best thing here, is just to write it all out.
We have Nicholas Mason of Tiffin, a NCAA DII champion from 2019, who after having a bad tournament last season, is looking to reclaim his status. He's had quite the feud with West Liberty's Logan Kemp. Having defeated Kemp twice by fall 2:50 & 5:53, he also owns an 11-6 decision Vs having lost 11-5 decision and 19-10 major decision. I'd say he's sitting pretty good if he has to face Lake Erie's Chris Droege who was 8th at the NCAA DII's last year, as he's pinned him in four previous meetings. 2:34, 3:37, 0:24 & 2:14 if you're curious. Now I know some people hate to hear the phrase "fluke" or "caught" but sometimes it is warranted. I'm well aware that Mason was pinned by Ashland's Walker Uhl, but I'm also aware that earlier this season Mason defeated Uhl 13-3 major decision.
As to Kemp, he's also defeated Droege by fall in 3:35, yet he's struggled with Glenville State's Jordan Williams each time they've met. Williams owns 10-5 & 6-5 decisions over the Hilltopper.
No matter which way you slice it two very good wrestlers will not be going to the NCAA's.
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| HWT Francesco Borsellino West Liberty |
While the other 9 weight classes in Super Region III are rather loaded, that is not the case with HWT. I could have sworn that two time NCAA DII All American Tristen Weirich of Ashland was on the roster not all that long ago, but he's not on their now. That leaves things pretty much in the hands of DII 7th place finisher Francesco Borsellino as far as I'm concerned. He should win a title here, no problem.
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